Here is an entire thread where we discuss Pearls Before Swine

Particularly haunting, at least to me, are the Balaklava segments, like "Trumpeter Landfrey"...there's something awesome (in the true sense of the word) about being able to hear the voice of someone who was alive in the 1850s, and hear the exact sound elements of the war they were in literally one-hundred fifty years ago. To be able to hear Florence Nightingale's voice...wow.

I think I posted an inquiry about them on USENET many years ago (actually, it might have been alt.music.alternative), and Tom Rapp (who is a lawyer in Philadelphia nowadays) not only emailed me back, but sent me a tape of an unreleased version of "Translucent Carriages" and a remix of "Surrealist Waltz" (so that you could more clearly hear the lyrics). Made a great Father's Day present!

_one nation underground_ and _balaklava_ are both genius, and the warner albums, though offering diminished returns, are still pretty good - even the final one, _beautiful lies you could live in_ has some really excellent songs on it ("snow queen" leaps immediately to mind).

i've seen tom rapp live twice now - once at a small club in philly, once at terrastock 5 - and both times were amazing for entirely different reasons.

It's worth noting that his solo albums are EXTREMELY underrated, especially Stadancer, which is one of my favorites. These Things Too is a good Pearls album too, just got that on ebay (one of a few records I've managed to replace after a recent fire).

After this I'll probably listen to Beautiful Lies You Could Live In, which I also haven't listened to in ages. I think some of the country/western type tunes on that one bugged me. I'll get back to you.

And if ya don't have the first volume, get all three ppd for $25!

"Yesterday you threw the pieces of your broken heart at me
Tears are thicker than water but you wouldn't let it be
Sweet and bleeding Jesus
Came to me in a song
But I still don't think I understand
Where he means for me to belong
And I'm going to take a walk on Grace Street
Before I'm dead and gone

...

But I woke up this morning
And my mouth was full of blood
And I'm going to take a walk on Grace Street
And look at where I was"

Incidentally, they were the first psych/folk group I got into as well. At the tender age of thirteen my uncle played me Balaklava; he's got all of their records, was a huge fan back in the day, etc.

Also, "Grace Street" is available in a different version on the Familiar Songs LP, which I notice at the store but don't really want to spend $15 on. Oh well. Great, beautiful song. The liner notes of Wizard of Is express Tom Rapp's desire to have a gospel choir in there--wow.

"In 1972, a church in Vermont rand its bell once each minute for each American killed in Vietnam. It rang for forty days and forty nights. Is that biblical, or what? That's why, when you hold a seashell to your ear, you can hear Nixon screaming in hell. I hate it when songs like this become relevant again. It's dedicated to George W. Bush who is continuing Nixon's work of writing messages in the blood of others."

I ate mushrooms last winter in my loft (which was stupid) and began to freak out cuz there was no weed to smoke and my apartment/roommates at the time made me really anxious. I listened to this album, then I didn't listen to it for a long time. But yeah. Good stuff. Nay, great stuff.

i'm not into the fugs that much. belle on avenue a is supposed to be one of the better ones, right?

the lack of pearls footage on youtube is truly disappointing! mr. rapp's been in heavy rotation around my house these past few weeks. must be that time of the year.

slight wtf moment watching fassbinder's rio das mortes for the first time yesterday: opening scene soundtracked by 'morning song' complete with bosch poster from the lp up on the schygulla character's apartment wall

Pearls before swine, feelin' fine. Swine before pearls, gives me the hurls.

(xp) I mentioned this before, but not on this thread it seems, fuck knows where then.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/616gQ5RMOdL.jpg

noticed this recent(ish) addition to the pbs corpus: anyone heard?

Sad news from Damon Krukowski

We have lost the great singer, songwriter and human being Tom Rapp...

— Damon K (@dada_drummer) February 12, 2018

oh, fuck

damn, RIP. was just playing one nation underground last week ...

Lovely post from his daughter in law.

Tom, my husband's dad, passed away yesterday. Seeing how much he meant to people and how much they loved his work is really a light in our lives during a dark time, thank you. https://t.co/ntI9zxnpUl

— Kristen Bonardi Rapp (@kristenrapp) February 12, 2018

Oh no, not Tom Rapp now. Loved that guy + band. RIP Tom.

Goodnight Tom Rapp and thank you sincerely for your music

Crazy that Tom's career was over in his mid-twenties - some people don't even get started till then - and he's put out NINE albums by then...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRKmkRzQUMM

rip :-(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEp5ko51RC8

Happy 4th of July!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjLdKXChh2M